'Twitter Plagued By Weak Cyber Defences', Says Whistleblower Peiter Zatko In Congress Hearing

Twitter whistleblower Peiter Zatko, who testified before the Committee, said that weak cyber defences makes the microblogging site vulnerable to exploitation by “ teenagers, thieves and spies”

Twitter account displayed on a phone

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Twitter whistleblower Peiter ‘Mudge’ Zatko, who appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, said the social media platform was plagued by weak cyber defences, thus making it vulnerable to exploitation by “ teenagers, thieves and spies”, reported the news agency AP.

Allegations By Zatko

Twitter’s former security chief, who filed a whistleblower complaint against Twitter in July, said at the beginning of the testimony, "I am here today because Twitter leadership is misleading the public, lawmakers, regulators and even its own board of directors."  It doesn't matter who has keys if there are no locks, he added, as reported by the news agency.

"Twitter leadership ignored its engineers," he said, in part because "their executive incentives led them to prioritise profit over security". However, the issue of active users, an important metric for Twitter advertisers didn’t come up during the hearing.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has backed out of the $44 billion deal to acquire Twitter, argued without evidence that many of Twitter’s roughly 238 million daily users are fake or malicious accounts, ie “spam bots”, AP reported.

The Delaware judge overseeing the case said Musk can use new evidence related to Zatko’s allegations in the high-stakes trial, which is set to begin on October 17.

Meanwhile, Twitter’s shareholders on Tuesday voted to approve the deal. It was expected that shareholders will vote in favour after a stock market downturn made Musk's $54.20-per-share deal for Twitter, which was signed in April, look pricey in the current environment. Twitter shares are presently hovering around $41.

Twitter on Monday clarified its stance over the payment to the whistleblower saying it did not breached any terms of its sale to Musk, reported the agency. Twitter's lawyers pointed out that Musk's reasons for wanting to back out of the deal were "invalid and wrongful."